Painted
at the same time as the first Dawn at the Alamo, The Settlement of
Austin's Colony was intended to be the first in a series of works in which
McArdle would depict scenes from Texas history. Stephen F. Austin is shown
rallying his colonists against the Karankawa Indians around 1824, as an unnamed
scout comes to the cabin door to sound the alarm. The others depicted include
land commissioner Baron de Bastrop on the left, secretary of the colony Samuel
L. Williams on the right, chief scout Ran Foster in front of Williams, Austin's
cook Simon at the window, and surveyor Horatio Chriesman at Austin's feet.